George Magazine: November, 1996
Diva Democracy
Bill Clinton takes her calls. So isn't it time to take her politics seriously? Fresh from the set of her new movie, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Barbra Streisand tells Jack Newfield about her political journey — from a close encounter with her late father to her intimate bond with the first family.
In the cozy sitting room of her sprawling, antique-filled Los Angeles home, Barbra Streisand and I are arguing about the Republican-drafted welfare reform bill that President Clinton signed. We're entering the fifth round. "It creates no jobs and hurts the poor," I say. Clinton will add a job component later, she retaliates, forever defending the President. We're both trying to stay polite, respecting the conventions of the muckraker-meets-diva interview. (As a self-described Robert Kennedy-Bruce Springsteen populist, I was one of the few journalists Streisand would agree to talk with.) "This bill will create a million new poor people," I insist. Exasperated, the superstar gets up and disappears into another room. She returns with a thick folder, which I notice contains faxes from the White House. This is Barbra Streisand's "welfare bill" file. So it's true: Funny Girl has become Serious Woman. Yentl has turned policy wonk.
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intimate bond with the first family.
Oh yeah....that cracks me up. I mean they are soooo important all of them. willie who messes with interns and gets himself impeached....his wife who enabled him all the way so she could ride his coattails for her future power and BS whose time is over and yet she tries to scratch out whatever she can to keep her face in the limelight. Oh yes, intimate bond with the first family allright but...they have it wrong. Her intimate bond is with a former first family not the current Bush First Family. The Real First Family.